I got the chance to go up in the mountains above
Riffe Lake on Thursday, March 10 for a peek at Mount St. Helens.
No real activity there, but a nice view. In it from this angle you can
easily see the new dome behind the older one.

Two
Domes...

Here is a closeup of the crater and the two domes, the new one is the
grayish white lump that looks like a whales back and all the dark
stuff in the shadows on the left is also new growth in the volcano.

October
4, 2004...

And now for comparison this shot from October
4th, 2004 when the latest activity first started and the new dome had
just started to grow from the crater floor.... this is a pretty dramatic
change.

No Wonder We Love
Our Mountain...

(photo by Tony Sirgedas)

December 19, 2004: Tony says, "How's
this for a lousy December weather day? With a new record high temperature
for the day, Mount Rainier was putting on quite a show as it reflected
in Rapjohn Lake. Coming over Graham Hill this morning on my way home a
steam plume from Mount St. Helens was also visible." This just in
from Tony: This picture was selected and shown on King 5's weather
photos during this evening's newscast. Way to go Tony!

The Calm Before
the Storm

(photo by Tony Sirgedas)

November
17, 2004: Tony says, "Before
it's blown away by the impending storm. I hope it gets a bunch of
new snow with this bit of weather coming in."

Moody
Mountain...Photos by Tony Sirgedas

Lenticular clouds over Mount Rainier. These clouds are formed when
"masses of air flow over massive mountains" making
mountain waves much the same as water ripples around a rock coming out
of the water. The invisible waves create beautiful, outstanding cloud
formations familiar to fortunate folks who live enough to "massive
mountains" to enjoy the interesting, graceful and often
seemingly static cloud formations.

Clouds Look
Like a Golden Eruption

Sunday's
sunset with lenticular clouds over Mount
Rainier produced an even more spectacular
sunrise on Monday morning. Both shots taken from the
same place on the Mountain Highway, one mile North
of Pack Forest.

More Awesome
Wildlife Photos
from Tony Sirgedas...

Taken August 3,
2003

Photos
taken August 3 at Northwest Trek. The pair of Bald Eagles huddle
together for a group shot this morning as they kept an eye on the crows
overhead.

The striped
skunk comes out to enjoy the overcast morning at Northwest Trek as did
many of the other animals.

A
bighorn Mountain Sheep ram stands majestically for the tram at Northwest
Trek as it goes by. Cloudy overcast mornings have been a real
break for the Trek animals with the dry, hot weather we've been having.